Do This For The Summer: Colorful Eyeliner

It's no secret that I have an unhealthy addiction to eyeliner. This past weekend I started experimenting with colored eyeliner as opposed to my tried-and-true favorite, black eyeliner. I was pleasantly surprised! A fun way to keep things simple yet bold is to take one of your favorite loose eyeshadows and mix it with mixing medium to create a fun, winged liner. Simple, yet effective. One of my favorite mixing mediums is Make Up For Ever's Aqua Seal. I'll be posting a review on it very soon. Spoiler alert: it can waterproof ANYTHING.

Products Used:

Eyes:

MAC Pink Opal Pigment (inner corner)

Inglot DS 502 Eyeshadow (grey on lid)

MUFE Aqua Seal + Sugarpill Weekender Chromalust (eyeliner)

Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil in Perversion (tightline, smudged on lower lashline)

Covergirl Volume Lash Blash (mascara)

Cheeks:

Tarte Blissful Amazonian Clay Blush

Lips:

Too Faced Perfect Pink Lip Liner

OCC Memento Lip Tar

5 Products For The Perfect Summer Look

For those of my readers who live in Florida, summer is pretty much already here. The heat and humidity have parked themselves in the state of Florida and won't be going anywhere until October or November. For those of you who are still dealing with cooler weather (which I can't even fathom- I'm totally jealous), this is the perfect pick-me-up look when you start to miss summer.

You've probably seen the above shot all over Pinterest (and probably Tumblr), so I selected five products that can be used to achieve this look. Have any of you used these products before? What's your go-to summer look? Let me hear it in the comments!

make up for ever eyeliner in 52L // anastasia brow pen // lancome mascara
too faced la creme lipstick in juicy melons // urban decay baked bronzer

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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. 

Image found via Pinterest.

hang tight!

Please bear with me for the next week, as I won't be updating Brikasia. My wireless internet here at home no longer works, AND I am moving to a new place this week. Hopefully I'll be back to regular posting next week, but in the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter (@briannawhattt) to see what's going on with me.

To keep this beauty related, I leave you all with the following question: What are some of your favorite waterproof products that are actually waterproof? I'm looking for some new waterproof products to try for the summer! Have a great week everyone.

*I'm using the Blogger app on my iPhone so hopefully this will work and the header hoot won't come out to wonky!

A Fresh New Take on Pastels: Winged Liner Edition

Working with pastels can be a very tricky matter. It's easy to be washed out when working with pastels, but it's all about placement. Proper placement of pastel shadows can make a world of difference. In this look, I kept a light wash of pink on the lid and the crease, and used more pigmented pastel colors closer to the lashline. Because pastels have a tendency to be boring, I spiced things up with three winged liners. 

It's also important to layer colors so the colors don't look too washed out and blend together. The more multi-dimensional, the better. I actually made a tutorial for this look, would anyone be interested in seeing it? I felt that this looked worked better as a look of the day, because I'm not too sure how many people would want to follow a tutorial for it to recreate it themselves.

Products Used:

Eyes:

Yaby Frosted Rose E/S

Yaby A Doll's Pink E/S

Inglot DS 493 E/S

Yaby Seashell E/S

Sugarpill Mochi E/S

Yaby Tqus Dream E/S

Yaby Tropical Dusk E/S

Yaby Green Delicious E/S

Yaby Summer Night E/S

Yaby Eggplant E/S

Inglot DS 491 E/S

Urban Decay Ransom 24/7 Eyeliner

MAC Sushi Flower E/S

Make Up Forever #5 E/S

YSL Shocking Mascara

Cheeks:

Makeup Designory Warm Bisque Blush

Lips:

MAC Lovelorn Lipstick

LMdB Coral Rose Lip Gloss

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You Can Get This Look: The Purple Smoky Eye Made Easy

Nothing makes me quite as jazzed as colored smoky eyes (with the exception of bright pink lipstick- but that's a story for another time). I was going through my Pinterest boards the other day, and forget I pinned the awesome visual above, which is from the May 2010 issue of Allure. I am so in love with the look, and purple smoky eyes are my favorite kind of smoky eye. Purple is universally flattering and will compliment all eye colors. If you want to recreate this look for a night out, you may want to opt for a nude lip as opposed to a deep crimson pout. If you're feeling ballsy and fierce, though, I say go for it all! Here are my picks for you to recreate this look.

sephora eyeshadow in 24 & 29 // make up for ever cream shadow // urban decay liquid liner
obsessive compulsive cosmetics lip tar // nars satin lip pencil // ysl glossy stain

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Header photo found via Pinterest.

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Polka Dot Accents

Happy Wednesday, everyone! This week I have my final exams, so instead of just abandoning the blog for the week, I figured I'd leave you all with a little something-something to hold you all off until next week. This is my current mani, featuring Cult Nails' latest collection. For the base coat, I used Morning Glory, and on the accent nail, I used You're My Dandy Lion (yellow) and Kiss My Rose Bush (pink). No top coat was added because I'm kind of obsessed with the wax finish. I love the texture contrast between You're My Dandy Lion (which is a gloss finish) and Morning Glory (wax finish). Sometimes a small detail like that can make all the difference in a manicure! Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Food For Thought Friday: Sustainable Beauty

Sustainable beauty... Sounds like a great concept, right? In today's more environmentally aware society, words such as "organic" and "green" get tossed around more than most other words do. But are most "natural" beauty products actually, well, natural? Before I briefly get into this, it's important to understand what sustainability is in the first place. According to the EPA, sustainability can be defined as the following:

Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.  Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.

Sustainability is important to making sure that we have and will continue to have,  the water, materials, and resources to protect human health and our environment.

Beautifully said! There have been a lot of reports on the amount of chemicals that are found in our daily beauty products, from deodorant to lipstick. HERE is a pretty informative post on what's hanging out in most beauty products. Getting back to the point of this post, here's a fun fact: the FDA doesn't actually regulate what's inside beauty products. Many products get away with labeling their products as "natural" and "organic", without the products actually being natural or organic. So what's a consumer to do?

For one thing, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics advises consumers to be wary of the ingredients in your products. They have a list of ingredients to be wary of on their website. Make sure if a product says it's organic that it has a stamp from USDA organic or EcoCert. Now all of this is definitely easier said than done. It's important to be informed on issues like these, but will it change my buying habits? 

Well, yes and no. I am aware of the ingredients in the products I use, but if I love a product, I don't necessarily care about what's in it. It's awful, I know, but it's difficult finding sustainable brands that actually have products that work. It's kind of a moral dilemma, if you think about it. I love the idea of sustainable cosmetics, but it's hard to follow through. Plus, the ridiculous prices for most organic products deter me from going the all-natural route. But that's just me. What are your feelings on this topic?

COLOR ME: fuchsia

For me, one of the most exciting things about spring is all of the super-saturated color palettes I see in stores. When I was younger, I tried so hard to be the "anti-girlie" kinda girl and made it my mission to tell all those around me how much I loathed the color pink. But then reality set in and I realized one of the colors I gravitate to the most is pink. Not any kind of pink, though. Fuchsia. Fuchsia paired with bold turquoises and whites makes my designer heart so happy. How do you feel about fuchsia? 

ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR.

PS. My heart goes out to all of those who were affected by yesterday's senseless tragedy in Boston. Sending happy thoughts your way!!

DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links.

Cult Nails "In The Garden" Collection: Review & Swatches

By now, you all know how much I love Cult Nails' nail polishes. Maria's latest collection is called "In The Garden", and is perfect for the spring. The five polishes in the collection are Let's Get Dirty, You're My Dandy Lion, Kiss My Rose Bush, Ay Poppy!, and Morning Glory. I'm just going to tell you flat out: photos don't do this collection any justice! Sure, they're still beautiful in photos but in person? Fan-freakin'-tastic. These polishes also come with a limited edition white cap on them to add to the spring-iness of the collection, too. And I have some swatches to share with you all! The left pictures are indoors with my camera's flash, and the right picture is outside without the flash.

First up is Let's Get Dirty. This is one of those colors that I just have the hardest time photographing. This shade is a nude taupe that leans towards being lavender. It is a wax finish polish and is opaque in two coats. This shade also has a nice shimmer to it, which is kind of hard to see. You can kind of see the microshimmer in the left picture, when I applied a glossy top coat over the thumb.

Next up is You're My Dandy Lion. This is just a super fun color that puts me in SUCH a great mood. It is so hard to find a yellow that's not completely disgusting, and this is such a cheerful shade of yellow! And although it looks like a creme finish polish, it actually has a super pretty shimmer in it! It's a little streaky when applying it, but I got it opaque in 2 coats. I can already tell this is going to be a summer staple for me.

Next is Kiss My Rose Bush. This is probably my favorite name for a nail polish ever. This was another hard one to photograph. The daylight picture makes the polish look darker, but the indoor picture is more accurate to what it looks like in real life. This is another wax finish polish. I applied a glossy top coat to my middle finger so you can kinda see what that looks like. This is a great pink- I want to say it reminds me of Pepto-Bismol, but in the best way possible! This was practically opaque in one coat, but I added a second coat to make it completely opaque. This polish formula was a bit on the thicker side, but nothing obnoxious.

Next is Ay Poppy! You guys, I freaking love this color. It's the perfect orange! Not too neon, but not too bland. I want to say it's more of a coral shade, but in the sun it's definitely a lot brighter! It was hard to capture this color too. This was opaque in two coats. This is a great summer color!

Last up is Morning Glory. This is a GREAT magenta shade that is also a wax finish. It's super pigmented, so in the pictures I actually only have one coat on! This is another shade I'll be reaching for frequently.

I'm a complete sucker for bright colors, so this collection was pretty much made for me. Now be warned- all of these colors are limited edition so if any of these colors strike your fancy, you better act quickly! The polishes retail for $12 each. This is yet another flawless collection from Cult Nails! I can't wait to see what else they have in store for us this year.

Disclosure: All products in this post were purchased by me.

Springing Into Blurple

It's been a while since I've done a look of the day post! I've been rather uninspired lately as I mentioned in Friday's post, but I've been trying to force myself to use more color. Especially now that it's spring, it feels more appropriate to bust out the brightly colored pigments. Purple is one of the most flattering eyeshadow colors and looks great paired with any eye color. If you're tired of using neutrals (like yours truly), try using some purple eyeshadow to spice things up! I used more of a blue-based purple here, and paired it with a teal shadow on the lower lashline. Hope you like!

Products Used:

Eyes-

Sugarpill Weekender Loose Shadow

MAC Purple Shower Eyeshadow

MAC Fig 1 Eyeshadow

Makeup Forever #60 Eyeshadow

Makeup Forever #92 Eyeshadow

MAC Prussian Eyeshadow

MAC Pink Opal Loose Pigment

Yaby Tropical Dusk Eyeshadow

Miss Adoro 747S Lashes

Cheeks-

Le Metier de Beaute Traviata Blush/Bronzer

Lips-

Too Faced Perfect Pink Lip Liner

OCC Hush Lip Tar